Six Sigma is a long-term, forward-thinking initiative designed to fundamentally change the way corporations do business. It is first and foremost a business process that enables companies to increase profits dramatically by improving quality, eliminating defects or mistakes in everything a company does, and streamlining operations.

"While traditional quality programs have focused on detecting and correcting defects, Six Sigma encompasses something broader: It provides specific methods to re-create the process itself so that defects are never produced in the first place," write Mikel Harry and Richard Schroeder in Six Sigma.

The Six Sigma's Breakthrough Strategy is a disciplined method of using extremely rigorous data-gathering and statistical analysis to pinpoint sources of errors and ways of eliminating them.

Process-managed Enterprise

Productivity Improvement

Synergize EBPM, TQM, and Six Sigma

Efficiency Improvement

Best Practices

The Five Objectives of Six Sigma

① To satisfy the customer

② To lift internal performance

③ To enable better performance by better design

④ To improve the quality of purchased supplies

⑤ To reduce the costs

Benefits 360

Six Sigma helps achieve remarkable improvements in design methodology; processes; products and services; supplier relationships; training and recruitment; investor relations.

3 Strategies of Market Leaders

Six Sigma and Quality Revolution at GE

The New Warrior Class

Green Belts  ▪  Black Belts` ▪  Master Black Belts  ▪  Champions

Invention of Six Sigma by  Motorola

Facing stiff competition by Japanese manufacturers, Motorola reversed its fortunes with the Six Sigma strategy. These programs were led by corporate pioneers and then institutionalized. Motorola's Six Sigma quality program was so radical that it forced managers to think about the business differently. As a result, they smashed the old inspection paradigm.

Faster Returns on Investment

While Six Sigma is a long-term strategy, it is designed to generate immediate improvements to profit margins too. Compared to traditional quality management programs such as TQM that project three or more years into the future, Six Sigma focuses on achieving financial targets in twelve-month increments.

5 Basic Elements

Healthy Company

Sustainable Growth

Sustainable Profit Growth

Lean Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma is a team-focused managerial approach that seeks to improve performance by eliminating resource waste and defects. It teaches that any use of resources that doesn't create value for the end customer is considered a waste and should be eliminated.

Lean Six Sigma combines Six Sigma methods and tools with the Lean Manufacturing/Lean Enterprise philosophy... More

Lean vs. Traditional

Applications of Lean

Kaizen and Lean

Lean Production

Transition to a Lean Enterprise

Glossary

Kaizen Six Sigma

Kaizen tries to improve the business as a whole by creating a standard way of working, increasing efficiency and eliminating business waste.

Six Sigma is more focused on quality output (the final product). This is facilitated through finding and eliminating the causes of defects.

Kaizen

Kaizen and TQM

Kaizen and Lean

Kaizen Culture

7 Conditions for  Implementation

Integrate Six Sigma and Business Process Management

Total Quality Management (TQM)

Deming's 14 Point Plan for TQM

Areas Targeted by TQM in Japan